Comment 39836

By Bedrock Twist (anonymous) | Posted April 15, 2010 at 14:43:52

Another hole in the story is what strikes me as an incredible lost opportunity, even when it was rubble.

To wit: "The remainder was disposed of by the demolition company, Greenspoon Specialty Contracting. They passed it on to a fill site which likely used it in concrete, said Geoff Hall, a senior project manager at Greenspoon."

Which seems to suggest that it was used to make terrazzo. Maybe the shattered fragments were unsuitable for marble cladding, but even its most busted-down state, it remained "gold-veined Cherokee marble."

Terrazzo, which most people will be familiar with from its use in public school and other institutional flooring over the years, is one of the oldest examples of sustainable building that I can think of -- it's recycling old building materials for use in flooring and countertops. With minimal care, it basically lasts for a lifetime. Case in point: any of the dozens of established-looking shop doorways throughout the city that were laid in mid-century and still look great.

One reason more people don't use terrazzo these days is that it's expensive. The reason for this is both the skilled labour that goes into laying the surface and the material that is mixed with the concrete/cement/resin binder. Terrazzo is often about 3/4 marble aggregate, so it can run you $50-100 a square foot.

And I can't even begin to figure how much terrazzo you could generate using 640 tonnes of free marble.

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